THE RAOUL WALLENBERG ALGORITHM

TitleTHE RAOUL WALLENBERG ALGORITHM
BrandRAOUL WALLENBERG ACADEMY
Product/ServiceTHE RAOUL WALLENBERG ALGORITHM
Category A07. Use of Real-time Data
Entrant GULLERS GRUPP Stockholm, SWEDEN
Idea Creation GULLERS GRUPP Stockholm, SWEDEN
Idea Creation 2 RAOUL WALLENBERG ACADEMY Stockholm, SWEDEN
Media Placement GULLERS GRUPP Stockholm, SWEDEN
PR GULLERS GRUPP Stockholm, SWEDEN
Production GULLERS GRUPP Stockholm, SWEDEN
Credits
Name Company Position
Johanna Sturk Gullers Grupp PR Strategist
Johan Yilmaz Gullers Grupp Creative Director
Cornelia Böttiger Gullers Grupp Project Manager
Kajsa Runnérus Gullers Grupp Producer
Christian Hammar Gullers Grupp Creative Director
Jerker Belvert Gullers Grupp Creative Director
Jacob Lindberg Gullers Grupp Copywriter
Anton Severin Gullers Grupp Copywriter
Isaac Kuehnle - Nelson Gullers Grupp Developer
Merhawit Habte Gullers Grupp PR and Social Media
Matilda Hedengren Gullers Grupp Graphic Design
Yoel Svenzén Gullers Grupp Graphic design
Jens Öhgren Gullers Grupp PR Consultant
John Gille Columbus Gullers Grupp Film Producer
Olle Wemne Gullers Grupp Research
Per Fridsjö Gullers Grupp Animation

Why is this work relevant for Creative Data?

What world leaders say on Twitter affects us all. 280 characters can spark crises and wars that affect millions. This Twitter data is accessible to everyone, yet the democratic consequences have been difficult to gauge – until now. Our algorithm gathered, interpreted and visualized data in a groundbreaking way; it showed the importance of compassionate leadership online. With a unique temperature scale inspired by Raoul Wallenberg, the algorithm analysed tweets from 300 world leaders in real time using the Watson AI, and visualized how the social temperature drops when leaders tweet without compassion.

Background

The Raoul Wallenberg Academy (RWA) is a non-profit organisation that works in the spirit of Raoul Wallenberg to inspire today’s youth to become compassionate leaders of tomorrow. The RWA wanted to highlight the importance of compassionate leadership. The way world leaders behave and express themselves on social media has significant impact on society. Their words can cause stock markets to fall and even trigger wars. We needed to remind them of the power at their fingertips and the importance of acting with compassion and considering what sentiments they broadcast to the world. With a focus on young people and the media, the brief was to increase awareness of the RWA’s work and to highlight the importance of compassionate leadership. The goal was to get 1 000 people to use the hashtag #warmupourglobe within one month, and at least ten media outlets to mention the organisation.

Describe the idea/data solution

With boorish leaders like Donald Trump, Twitter plays a crucial role in influencing public debate. Hate-filled tweets that lack compassion have a significant impact on the global conversation and ultimately our lives. We wanted to visualize the importance of humanitarian leadership both online and offline. Twitter is all about instant impact; the conversation can shift in seconds. The Raoul Wallenberg Algorithm is a digital tool that interprets and analyses tweets from 300 world leaders in real time. IBM’s Watson AI is used to analyse the tonality conveyed by those leaders, including anger, fear and happiness. The parameters and scales where determined together with a professor from the Karolinska Institute in order to best represent whether a tweet is compassionate or not. The algorithm calculates a real-time compassion temperature based on the Watson analysis and the number of followers of each leader. As tweets are analysed, a 3D globe on the campaign website changes colour and temperature according to a unique Raoul scale. It combines established research on empathy with AI-powered analysis of large quantities of data. The algorithm became a conversation starter for young leaders and the media to discuss the importance of compassionate leadership.

Describe the data driven strategy

In order to introduce a brand-new way of talking about compassionate leadership online, it was important to create a tool that was current, trustworthy and interactive. Current The algorithm scrapes data from the accounts of 300 handpicked world leaders every five minutes, 24/7. This ensured that the Raoul scale was always up-to-date. The leaders were chosen from different fields such as politics, music, sports etc. Correct: Besides using the Watson AI, the algorithm’s parameters and scales were developed together with a professor of empathy from the Karolinska Institute. For the PR launch we partnered with one of Sweden’s most well-known marketing professors Micael Dahlén. Interactive: Users could replay the change in temperature over time, see which tweets had the most effect, and detect trends by exploring the temperature day-by-day. The scale could also be affected by users who tweeted with #warmupourglobe. During the launch we encouraged users to warm up the globe by writing humane and compassionate tweets.

Describe the creative use of data, or how the data enhanced the creative output

Our idea was to create an algorithm that could calculate the global compassion temperature in real time. To make it a reality, we analysed world leaders’ activities on Twitter – the most influential platform for social and political commentary, and often an important news source. Every day the algorithm processes hundreds of tweets from 300 world leaders in politics, culture, and sports. It analyses the words, emotions and tonality of their tweets. By combining this with the number of Twitter followers of each leader, the algorithm calculates the global compassion temperature. The temperature is projected onto a 3D globe using a scale of 100° to -100° Raoul. On the website, users can explore Twitter activity over the last 24 hours and see how the global temperature changes. Users can also dig deeper into the data and detect trends by exploring the temperature day-by-day. By combining established research on empathy with Watson’s analysis of large quantities of Twitter data, the algorithm could for the first time ever draw conclusions about the global state of compassion in real time.

List the data driven results

The algorithm has presently processed nearly a million tweets. More than 1 600 young leaders and influencers made #warmupourglobe trend on Twitter for 13 hours despite competing for attention with a political TV debate. Online mentions of the RWA increased by 4890%. The RWA were invited to talk about compassionate leadership in a number of media outlets. This generated 23 000 000 million impressions in the first week, and the project appeared on the cover of Sweden’s leading daily newspaper, on Swedish public TV and on Sweden’s biggest morning television show. All this with a limited budget of 1000 euro for media buy. The algorithm also had a crucial financial impact on the RWA and made several organisations commit to additional donations. The organisation’s director was named one of the 75 top female leaders in Sweden and was invited to demonstrate the algorithm at the Swedish embassy in Paris. Since the algorithm can draw conclusions about the global compassion temperature in a new and accessible way, it is now used in schools to teach young people about the importance of compassionate leadership. Behavioural change starts with young leaders, so let’s help them make the world a warmer place.